Latvia has the highest positive recognition rate in 2021 with at 94 percent, closely followed by the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, and Hungary, which also have positive recognition rates of over 90 percent. Compared to the previous year, there was a decrease in the rate of positive recognition decisions, especially in India, Spain, and the United Kingdom. This was about 10 percent in each case. China, the former Serbia (including Kosovo) and Albania recorded the largest increases of over 15 percent in the number of positive recognition decisions.

Nearly 70 percent of the applications for received vocational qualifications in Thailand were issued for a compensatory measure, the completion of which was still open at the end of the year under review. It is followed by Sudan, Tunisia, India, and Libya, each with approximately 60 percent. Just under 30 percent of the cases on non-regulated professions from Spain, Kosovo, and the former Yugoslavia (the whole of Yugoslavia) were decided on the basis of partial equivalence.

For the exact number of recognition decisions, see the figure below.

As in 2020, a vast number of applications came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by the Philippines, Serbia, and Syria. While the number of recognition decisions for Bosnian Herzegovinian and Filipino professional qualifications increased, the number for Serbian and Syrian professional qualifications decreased. In addition to the previously mentioned countries, India, Turkey, Tunisia, and Kosovo saw significant increases in the number of recognition decisions. Decisions of recognition for Vietnamese qualifications have also doubled. There were slight decreases in the number of recognition decisions, especially in Romania, Poland, and the Russian Federation.